Sailing with dolphins

A sunny Monday morning in December. I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen today. This time of year the beach is pretty quiet on weekdays, but I could convince a Chinese couple from Anhui province, who were playing volleyball for a while using the net we set up, to take a half-hour tour on the catamaran.
We had a good wind, with moderate waves (not as crazy as yesterday, more about that later), so we left the beach behind us rather quickly, and crossed into the shipping lane about 2km off shore. I was just about to turn around, when we spotted a white dolphin at close range, about 20m to our left. Shortly afterwards we saw two more, and then another couple further ahead. I pulled the main sail tighter to gain speed, and for several minutes the five dolphins were leading the way, jumping out of the water right in front of us, and at less than 5m distance to our side. A gorgeous sight! Too bad I didn't bring the weatherproof camera.
It's not uncommon to see dolphins here, but I don't see them more often than once a month on average, and never as close, and in such numbers as today. Really awesome!

Yesterday was quite a different trip. Martijn, Felix, and Zeid accompanied me and Ling Ling for a ride in rough but fair weather, with high waves, and a strong, gusty wind. This is what sailing at sea is all about: getting wet, salty water in your face, waves pouring over the deck, inescapable. The boys didn't let the continuous salty spray discourage them from trying to light a cigarette.
Sailing in this kind of weather is a truly different affair than our usual half-hour tours. You can't let go of the rudder for a second, pulling it hard to maintain course, and always ready to release the main sail to prevent tipping over. Luckily, with five people on board we had enough ballast for a stable ride, but still enough speed to make it a real thrill, even without seeing dolphins.